Mumbai’s suburban railway network is once again under public scrutiny as concerns over the closure of Emergency Medical Rooms (EMRs) and the persistent issue of overcrowding come to the fore. Amid daily casualties and dangerously packed compartments, a prominent city-based transport rights activist has written to top government officials, calling for urgent systemic reforms including the immediate reactivation of EMRs and the rollout of 18-car local trains.
The correspondence, addressed to both the Railway Minister and Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, highlights a longstanding lapse in safety compliance. Citing previous court directives, the activist referred to binding High Court orders issued in 2014 and 2017 that mandated the establishment and maintenance of EMRs across all suburban railway stations within the Mumbai division. Despite these legal requirements, recent Right to Information (RTI) findings reveal a grim reality—none of the approximately 125 Central Railway stations currently maintain operational medical rooms. The RTI reply, dated January 2025, confirms that 15 EMRs once functioning at major stations such as Karjat, Dadar, Vashi, and Kurla, have now been shut down. In contrast, the Western Railway appears marginally better, with only 23 of the 37 suburban stations between Churchgate and Dahanu still operating EMRs. This decline in on-site medical preparedness has raised public concern, particularly in light of data from the Mumbai Government Railway Police, which reported 5,165 rail-related incidents across the suburban network in 2024 alone. These included 2,468 fatalities and 2,697 injuries.
In his communication, the activist stressed that these figures reflect not just accidents but also a systemic neglect of commuter safety. He argued that with the daily influx of passengers growing steadily, the railways must accelerate the adoption of high-capacity solutions such as 18-car suburban trains. This demand is not without precedent. Technical approvals for 18-coach suburban services were granted as early as 2008 by the Research, Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), yet operational progress has stalled. On this front, the Railways have responded by stating that infrastructural limitations—particularly inadequate platform lengths, signalling systems, and stabling facilities—remain major bottlenecks. A senior official pointed out that while the ambition is acknowledged, the deployment of 18-car services requires comprehensive upgrades across multiple operational touchpoints. As an interim measure, more 15-car trains are being introduced. Central Railway currently operates only two such trains, servicing 22 routes, but tenders have now been floated to extend platforms 5 and 6 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). The platform extension work includes realigning tracks and dismantling an obsolete signal cabin.
According to engineers familiar with the project, upgrading to a 15-car format can immediately boost passenger capacity by 33 percent per train. However, they caution that the full benefits of such expansions will only be realised when accompanied by signalling enhancements like Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), which can reduce headway times from three minutes to two, thereby increasing the frequency of services. On the issue of medical preparedness, railway officials clarified that the discontinuation of EMRs was largely due to poor vendor response and operational inefficiencies. Previous attempts to run EMRs with full-time medical staff reportedly failed to attract sustainable interest from healthcare vendors. In place of in-station facilities, the railways have opted to partner with nearby hospitals to ensure rapid medical response within the so-called golden hour. Citing an example, a railway official noted that during a recent incident in Mumbra, injured passengers were successfully transferred to hospitals within 27 minutes.
Yet, civic activists and experts argue that off-site medical assistance cannot replace the need for immediate, on-platform emergency care—especially given the crowded conditions and the sheer volume of footfalls. They warn that such outsourcing could delay critical interventions in cases of cardiac arrest, falls, or trauma-related injuries. Meanwhile, projects worth over ₹16,000 crore are currently underway to improve Mumbai’s suburban railway system. These include the separation of suburban and long-distance corridors, the introduction of CBTC signalling, and infrastructure upgrades designed to accommodate an additional 250 services daily. Officials from the railway planning department assert that these long-term investments will help reduce system-wide congestion and improve commuter safety.
Urban planners and mobility experts suggest that Mumbai’s transport network requires a comprehensive overhaul, grounded in sustainable and equitable urban mobility principles. They recommend integrating rail services with city-wide emergency response networks, adopting digital surveillance and AI-based crowd monitoring, and expanding multi-modal connections to reduce peak hour pressure. With commuter numbers expected to increase further in the coming decade, public pressure is mounting on railway authorities to not only restore medical rooms but also to embrace scalable safety and capacity enhancements. The focus, experts say, must shift from reactive measures to preventive infrastructure planning, especially in the face of mounting commuter fatalities.
The debate over medical infrastructure and train capacity underscores a larger question: can Mumbai’s railway network evolve fast enough to protect the lives of millions who depend on it daily? Until visible improvements are made on-ground, the city’s most critical transport lifeline remains vulnerable—not only to overcrowding but to avoidable tragedies.
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